AICF to announce delayed chess Olympiad squad in ‘a week’

After a month’s delay, the Indian squad for the Chess Olympiad in Budapest in September will be finalised in “a week’s time”, the All India Chess Federation president Nitin Narang has said.

“The selection process is underway, and the team should be finalised in a week,” Narang told PTI without specifying the cause of the delay.

The tournament in Hungary begins on September 10 and, as per the guidelines, the squad was scheduled to be announced three months in advance.

According to a top-official the “selection process took time”, something that has hampered the players’ preparation.

The announcement is crucial on AICF’s part, as it would allow the participating players to plan better and train accordingly beforehand.

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However, the unexpected delay has led to a bit of frustration among certain players, who remain unsure regarding their participation.

“I am not sure about my participation since the team hasn’t been announced yet,” Indian GM Harika Dronavalli, who was part of the women’s bronze-medal winning team last year, told PTI.

“I have a few tournaments lined up. Hopefully, the (team) announcement comes soon so I can plan accordingly.” Harika however said the AICF had reached out to her for the Olympiad. “But I am not quite aware of the (selection) details.”

India had hosted the previous edition of the Olympiad for the first time in 2022, where the hosts took the bronze medal in both Open and Women’s categories.

In the Open event, the Indian bronze-winning team consisted of D Gukesh, Nihal Sarin, R Praggnanandhaa, Adhiban Baskaran and Raunak Sadhwani.

Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli, Rameshbabu Vaishali, Tania Sachdev and Bhakti Kulkarni took home the bronze in the Women’s section.

India also had a second team in the Open category featuring Pentala Harikrishna, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, Arjun Erigaisi, Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan and Krishnan Sasikiran who finished fourth.

The Indian team also won the Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy which is awarded to a nation with the highest number of match points in the Open and Women’s categories combined.

It will be the 45th edition of the Olympiad. Hungary will host the event for the first time in an official manner, having hosted the second unofficial Chess Olympiad in 1926.

AICF had mentioned earlier this year that the team will be picked in June.

“The Indian team for the Olympiad will be selected three months before the scheduled start of the event after publication of June 2024 FIDE Rating List based on the average rating of FRLs of April, May & June 2024 (three months FRLs prior to selection date),” the release had stated.

The qualification criteria for the players was that they should play at least nine games till June this year.